Slowed Down

I went to my parents' house last week and saw Dark Knight with my sister, two nieces, and nephew. The movie was good but definitely not great or maybe it really needs to be seen on IMAX.

Other than that I haven't been up to too much. I saw Battles & Black Dice play at Central Park's Summer Stage on Saturday, but didn't make it to Aesop Rock on Sunday, instead I lounged around the park enjoying the weather and avoided cleaning my room. I met up with some friends in Fort Greene at night & we all hung out on a stoop watching the rats run from the park to the garden. My one friend S is terrified of rats, my other friend S is only a little less terrified of rats.

I finished reading Canarium and Cutbank 69- both are good. I read some of The Saint Ann's Review Winter 2008 and had mixed feelings so I put it on hold to read Crazyhorse Number 73 and redivider spring 2008. Sadly both crazyhorse and redivider have poems by Billy Collins. As a rule, I don't read anything written by a Billy. Just the way I roll these days.

My colleague and friend Dan Magers is reading on Friday. I'll post the details later this week. Now I need to make coffee and seriously write out a syllabus. The plan is to do one today & do the other one on Thursday. I talked with my friend, Melissa & she hasn't written hers out either. I feel better. What about the rest of you adjunct junkies?

Aesop Rock Afraid of Poetry?

Well not exactly, but in an interview with Guernica Magazine he echoed a conversation I had and have been hearing for ages now. Poeple feel afraid of poetry as if they are not qualified or gifted with the intelligence to get it. While Ron Silliman may seem to be endlessly talking off your ear or Mei-Mei and Ashbery may seem too atmosperic or out there I can't imagine someone reading Neruda, Ferlinghetti, Schuyler, or Claudia Rankine's Don't Leave Me Lonely and walk away feeling as if they aren't qualified to love this.

Here's the interveiw with Aesop Rock:

http://www.guernicamag.com/interviews/397/graffiti_or_vermeer/

Monday is the day after Sunday

What a weekend- went to the Housing Works book fair but didn't have the motivation to rummage through boxes of dirty books 'specially when I have three books waiting to be read and reviewed, as well as, two issues of Poetry (didn't like the August issue so I haven't even unwrapped September or October and starting to feel slightly behind) plus I'd really like to dive into some of these novels I've been lugging around and haven't really read yet.. How about Proust anyone?

From the book fair I went to my reading (thanks to those that came!) then went to my friend Tara's b-day party. 'Twas fun, but from the flicker pictures it looks like the jump-off really happened after I left which was around 1 or so... Sunday was a lazy waste of sleeping, movie-watching, and attempting to write. Can anyone say wee bit of hangover + fatigue??

I called out of work today and the sky is mixed-up white and blue. I had some espresso, caught up on the daily basketball gossip on Dimemag.com, and now listening to some of the new Aesop Rock. Will try to write today or at least rewrite, as well as, work on some submissions. I need to stop by the old haunt New School and read about 30 poems for LIT, return some phone calls, and check out the Violi/Lehman reading tonight at KGB. I'm sure I'll eat sometime today too. An argula salad and girlled cheese sounds about right.

Oh yeah, how much do you want to bet that with Paul Muldoon editing the poetry at The New Yorker the poems don't really change much at all- we just begin to see a repetition of different-yet-the-same-'ol-writers that used to write good poems when they were younger (except Merwin who still rocks). Well maybe Sawako can get a Japanese translation published in The New Yorker now since she was awarded the NEA...

hmmm....